Irene Hope Berkley Mapes-Hay was born in Ogden, Illinois on September 11, 1902. She remained in Ogden until her death on October 16, 1984. Mapes was the daughter of Herbert Kelly and Mary Elizabeth Duggins Berkley. Mapes married Lester T. Mapes in 1923, and after his death in 1973, she married John Hay in 1980. Mapes had two children, Mary Ella Roderick and Lester Mapes Jr. Mrs. Mapes-Hay was an organist and grade school teacher. Her extensive genealogical research provides information about the owner, William Harvey Richardson (1790-1853), of the 1812-era clarinet in the Mapes Collection.